JEP grants freedom to Captain (r) Juan Carlos Dueñas for his contribution to the truth

The retired captain of the National Army Juan Carlos Dueñas Mejía became the first Colombian military officer to receive the replacement of the custodial assurance measure with the benefit of probation. The decision was taken by the Chamber for the Definition of Legal Situations (SRVR) of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).

The measure adopted by the peace court was based on Dueñas Mejía's early contribution to the truth, in addition to his acceptance of responsibility for the events for which he requested his submission to the Jurisdiction.

The crimes for which the retired captain was being investigated by the ordinary courts were homicide in a protected person, enforced disappearance and a concert to commit an aggravated crime, with respect to the extrajudicial execution of citizen Jaime Gonzáles Quijano, on November 26, 2003.

That day, Jaime Gonzales Quijano was held by members of the Southern Libertadores Bloc of the United Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC) in the Junín neighborhood of the municipality of Barbacoas (Nariño).

According to the investigation carried out by the Attorney General's Office, one of the paramilitaries who participated in the events, alias El Poli, who took advantage of the Justice and Peace Law, said that on orders of the commander alias Jota, along with two other paramilitaries, alias El Piojo and alias El Cucho, they detained Mr. Gonzales Quijano and was forcibly taken to a house in Junín.

Later, he said that “on the orders of the commander, he traveled along with alias “El Piojo” to the village Nambi, where a military base was installed, to talk to captain “DUEÑAS”, and inform him that he had the person for the “positive” he requested. Which is why he needed me to send him the uniform and the rifle, in order to terminate him and legalize that “positive”,” says the official investigation.

At that meeting, the soldier handed him a camouflaged uniform for the exclusive use of the Military Forces. According to the court, Gonzales Quijano was transferred to a rural area for the purpose of being executed, but when he was shot, the rifle was damaged and he ran away. They chased him, caught up with him and shot him several times in the head.

Upon seeing the man's body, Captain Juan Carlos Dueñas Mejia told them that it could not be used because it had been killed by pistol shells placed in the head. Gonzales Quijano's body was thrown into an abyss by the three paramilitaries.

He finished his version by claiming that this homicide ordered by alias Jota was due to the fact that Captain Dueñas Mejia had asked him to pass him off as a guerrilla in order to obtain a “positive”. According to the paramilitary, the retired captain coordinated this type of operation with his commander, alias Jota.

In its statement on Wednesday, April 20, the JEP stated that Captain Dueñas Mejía's freedom was adopted after the SRVR issued a favorable concept based on the voluntary version given by the speaker in the process of macrocase 02, which prioritizes the territorial situation of Ricaurte, Tumaco and Barbacoas, in Nariño.

“Their contribution or their manifestation on the truth of what happened focuses on their failure to act in front of an armed group, denoting that it was an act of complicity in addition to the handling of intelligence information provided to it in exchange for its omission. There is recognition for their omissions and their indications allow them to account for the actions of other armed groups during their stay in the territory, in order to determine at some point how much their behavior affected the victims of paramilitarism in the area”, concluded the JEP.

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